Cunningham's championship was, however, only the tip of RealTime's iceberg of success during 2005. RealTime drivers took an astonishing four of the top-five spots in the Touring Car series, with Pierre Kleinubing piloting his TSX to third, Brandon Davis in another TSX finishing fourth and Eric Curran bringing his RSX in fifth. Nick Esayian, in the other RealTime RSX, wound up 12th. Beyond that, Davis took Rookie of the Year honors. No other team won races in two different types of cars. In fact, no other team dared even campaign two different types of cars.
Who won the race at Laguna Seca? Who cares?
All the rewards weight laden onto the RealTime cars as their success mounted through the year will come off at the beginning of the 2006 season. And RealTime plans to be back, if they can, with all five drivers from the 2005 season on board their orange-and-white Acuras. With rule changes that reduce the severity of the rewards weight that comes with success, and more points being awarded for success in qualifying, the rest of the Touring Car field doesn't stand a chance.
So what changes does RealTime plan for 2006? "I've already asked," says Cunningham, "for bigger Sport Compact Car stickers. That ought to seal the deal."
Rumors & Lies* Mazda will have a direct-injection gasoline engine in its line by 2008.
* Toyota may sell its first diesel in America in the form of a version of the next-generation Tundra pickup.
* The Toyota diesel may be in lieu of a gas/electric hybrid drivetrain for the new Tundra, since Toyota is rumored to be having problems making a hybrid work with prolonged heavy loads.
* Mazda is supposedly rethinking its decision to drop the Miata name from its smallest roadster. The name may re-appear as soon as the 2007 model year on the car we now know as (though no one calls it this) the MX-5.
* While we weren't paying attention, Honda bought the B.A.R Formula One team and will now join Toyota, Ferrari and BMW in building both the chassis and engines for its entries in the world's most undeservedly prestigious race series.
Confusion At SemaAs this is written, the SEMA show in Las Vegas is still about a week away. As you read this it's already history. But we do know one thing: Ford had a lot of tuner versions of its new Fusion sedan on display.
Based on the Mazda6 platform, the Fusion is easily the best-looking four-door the company has made in at least 30 years. And going by this early release photo of H&R Springs' slightly lowered version it's a car that takes nicely to being recast as a tuner-mobile. Ford also released illustrations of Fusions under construction for SEMA by 3D Carbon, FocusSport, Drazas, HPA Motorsports and Street Scene Equipment-but illustrations seemed a silly thing to run now. Will the world soon be overrun by tuner Fusions? Ford would like it to be.
Weekend DreamingPontiac's Solstice roadster is the best small car to come from a domestic manufacturer since the Henry J. The question now is whether it will be embraced by the sport compact hardcore in any great numbers. Here's Pontiac's first stab at our collective hearts: the "Weekend Club Racer" put together by GM's Performance Division and displayed at November's SEMA Show in wicked Las Vegas, Nev.